Four hostages seized from a music festival during the Oct. 7 Hamas raid into Israel were freed from captivity Saturday in dramatic "complex" daylight operations at two buildings in Gaza by the Israeli military.
Israeli counter-terrorism units and Shin Bet agents raided the buildings in a residential neighborhood in Nuseirat and came under heavy fire as they freed hostages Noa Argamani, 25, Almog Meir, 21, Andrey Kozlov, 27, and Shlomi Ziv, 40.
Heavy airstrikes were conducted in the area against Hamas locations during the raids, which also involved hundreds of Israeli soldiers.
Hamas health officials said about 50 Palestinians were killed.
"During the operation we struck [attacked] ... threats to our forces in the area. These threats were struck from the land, air, and sea ... for us to extract our forces [and the hostages]," Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told reporters at a press conference on Saturday, the Times of Israel reported.
Argamani, whose voice was last heard on a Hamas propaganda video in May pleading for her life, was rescued at one building, while Meir Kozlov and Zin were found at the second site.
The four hostages, who all appeared to be in good physical condition, were transported to a hospital for further examination.
Hagari said the operations had been sketched out for weeks and involved "quality intelligence and complex operational planning."
The "intelligence for this operation was very complex to obtain," he said.
